Amtrak Conducting Security Exercise At 30th Street Station
(CBS) - There will be more police than usual on the rails today. Amtrak is running a high security exercise.
Aside from the increased police presence, Passengers can also expect to see bomb sniffing dogs and they may also be subject to having their bags checked on a random basis. Authorities say nobody should be alarmed by this, and they say the increased security is not related to the recent terror threats in Europe -- this exercise has been planned for a while.
It's a joint effort between federal, state, and local authorities to beef up and improve security. Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm says they kept the plans under wraps until today because authorities need the element of surprise to be effective:
"We like to maintain certain operational security and surprise so the bad guys who might be planning something don't know exactly when and where we're going to be when we have these security searches."
Amtrak security officers as well as police were asking passengers for ID and other general questions about their travel plans.
Reported By Margie Smith, KYW Newsradio and Dray Clark, CBS 3
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